Citizens’ Committee for Children releases new child well-being rankings for NYC neighborhoods

The Citizens’ Committee for Children’s released their annual report, “CCC Community Risk Ranking: Child Well-Being In New York City’s 59 Community Districts”, last week, presenting a detailed analysis on the many dimensions affecting the well-being of youth in the city. The paper looked specifically at child poverty, rent challenges, infant mortality rates, high-school graduation rates, violent felony rates and youth unemployment rates in NYC’s 59 community districts.

For certain indicators, the well-being index suggests improvements across all ethnic and racial groups. However, persistent, and in some cases growing, imbalances are also clear, with some neighborhoods standing out in terms of disparities and signifying uneven development in light of rapid gentrification. One example is Williamsburg, which is well known as a trendy area, but has a 64 percent child poverty rate.

This example drives home the reality that despite economic growth and more services and attractions, low-income families might only witness overall positive changes in their communities while not benefiting directly. The CCC’s findings also demonstrate the extent to which black and Latino children live in neighborhoods with the greatest levels of risk, impacting their well-being, health, housing, education and pathways to adulthood.

The Citizens’ Committee for Children sees the report as a helpful tool that will hopefully help elected officials, policy-makers, researchers, foundations and other stakeholders better understand the needs of the communities they serve.

To learn more about the city’s child well-being index in New York City’s 59 districts, download the report here.